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When first beginning the first playthrough of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, the game, before taking the player to the main story, has them sit through several TV spots that included advertisements for the five major PMCs, as well as others.

Contents

TV spots

7th Circle finales

In this TV spot, a female contestant is just about to win the grand prize in the final moments of the show, but only if she could answer correctly one more question. A demonic face then appears and asks which major PMC manufactures 51.5 million firearms per year and employs an armed force the size of Canada and Mexico's total populations combined. She is unable to answer, and thus ultimately loses the game. The answer was implied to be Pieuvre Armement.

Body of Armor video

Bomb Shelter Buffet

David Hayter interview

Praying Mantis TV spot

A man on a motorcycle is driving on the road, when a giant Praying Mantis proceeds to ambush the motorcyclist and throw a car at him, he then turns and proceeds to go under a tunnel, only for the Praying Mantis to pursue him. Eventually, the man is thrown off his motorbike, and while sliding on the ground futilely tries to fend the Praying Mantis off, only for the mechanical creature to impale him. It then shows a hologram of the creature.

Throughout the commercial, a man with an East London accent narrates "I spy with my little eye. A thing that go bump in the night near by. A sense of duty when the risks run high. The scum who wishes that he didn't try. Wakey, Wakey. Praying Mantis: Unmanned Surveillance Systems."

Pieuvre Armement TV spot

In an underwater minefield with pink lighting, a scantily-clad French woman fires a harpoon gun. As the harpoon travels through a school of fish, it then shows a gigantic octopus gripping several French ladies in similar outfits and holding various weapons. The octopus is revealed to be wearing a mechanical apparatus on its head. The octopus eventually lets go and squirts ink, with the women fading into darkness. We then get a good look at the Octopus's front, revealing its mechanical apparatus was a skull-like mask. The words Pieuvre Armement appear as well as MMXVIII (2018) and some illegible words beneath that. Throughout the ad, the narrator states in French that life is superficial and overrated, and death is better than life.

Raven Sword TV spot

An unseen shooter (save for first person view) proceeds to shoot a group of soldiers, shattering them in the process. Eventually, the sole survivor managed to shoot the unseen shooter and presumably kill him. The man's riot helmet then retracts revealing a cueball head as he proceeds to sheathe his gun while alarms are blaring as the motto "Never a Shot in the Dark" pops up.

Werewolf TV spot

Several machinery, such as cables, orifice-like devices, lights, and nanobugs are seen assembling each other and firing various weapons until it forms various branches, causing an explosion and causing the Werewolf Logo to appear alongside its slogan. The narration throughout the ad states: "Do you like what you see out of your window? Will you ever respect the face in your mirror? Will your children ever thank you for the sacrifices you're about to make? Our mission is to hear you say 'yes.' Perfecting the world through conquest of technology. Protecting civilian contingents through strategic combat solutions. Werewolf: Evolution ReInvented."

Otselotovaya Khvatka TV spot

Development

The TV spot intros were first shown in the game when the player first plays the game, and can only be shown once. Their existence caused some confusion with fans, and it wasn't until February 28, 2014 that their presence was explained, in a Game Informer web-exclusive article.

The TV spot intros were developed by three people: Series creator Hideo Kojima, Konami producer Kenichiro Imaizumi, and Logan founder Alexei Tylevich. As Imaizumi and Kojima wanted to do something different from the intro-style done by Kyle Cooper for Metal Gear Solid 2 and Metal Gear Solid 3 to coincide with the leap to the PlayStation 3, they hired the services of Tylevich, who ran the Los Angeles-based company of Logan, as Imaizumi and Tylevich were old friends from college in the 1990s. Kojima also agreed with choosing Tylevich, due to his connection to Apple, and his being a fan of Apple products. Ryan Payton, then recently-promoted, was also hired to help. Kojima largely put up the logo and in-game renders for the TV spots, with Tylevich doing most of the work. The ability to change channels via the controller was implemented late into development.

In the end, Payton's biggest regret was not implementing a prompt that made clear the players could change the channel, as the players have been trained not to skip cutscenes.